Even though I’d already ordered from Nordstrom at the start of June (dis), I placed another order at the end of June, mainly because I wanted a secondHair Care Sample Pack (dis) which happened to still be available (at the time). After this order though, I think I’m gonna’ cool it with Nordstrom (for a bit). It’s just too hot to be ordering stuff online.

Anyways, I got something from Alterna and two more somethings from Bumble and Bumble. Other than the Hair Care Sample Pack there was an Alterna Gift With Purchase and Bumble and Bumble Gift With Purchase which included deluxe samples from each brand! Yaaay!

I also got some more Bar Soaps and Candles to qualify for the Fragrance Sample Pack (dis). I was actually interested in purchasing Mojave Ghost from Byredo and Philosykos from Diptyque as Perfumes, but it was way too hot to risk (the heat might alter the contents and therefore the scent). So, I got them as Bar Soapsinstead. Plus, this way, I could “test” the scents first, rather than buying them as Perfumes and possibly ending up hating them.

The Makeup stuff was from Benefit and I only got them because I really, really had my heart set on the Benefit Gift With Purchase that came with a very, very cuteBenefit Clear Tote Bag and some samples. Also, it helped bump up the total of my order so I could qualify for the latest Sample Pack (dis).

Buy any 3 mascaras from your favorite brands, and we’ll automatically deduct the cost of the lowest-priced mascara in Checkout; no promo code required.

Plus, get a deluxe sample of Lancôme Cils Booster with any mascara purchase (one sample per customer).

Ramadan this year happened to coincide with Nordstrom’s annual “Pick 3 Mascaras, Get 1 of them Free” deal. Apparently, most people take advantage of this opportunity, to go after some of the more expensive mascaras (I’m talkin’ crazy expensive).

However, since it was boiling hot in Kuwait, towards the end of May, I wasn’t as willing to risk spending a crazy amount on mascaras, that might possibly arrive all dried up, especially since, after purchasing a handful of Kaftans via Instagram for Ramadan, I was pretty much skint. In fact, I was so broke, I actually debated whether I should just skip ordering online, for the time being.

Then again, the deal on mascaras was too good to pass up! Also, after spending a certain amount, customers qualified for the “Sample Pack of the month” (haulage here), not to mention the Gift with Purchase which totally sweetened the deal!

Nordstrom were having yet another Scent Event and giving away x2 Fragrance Sample Packs (your choice of Yellow or Pink, each with different fragrance samples) during the month of April. I’ll list everything included in both packs below. Both packs included several items that I already own, but as you can see, I decided to go with the Yellow mainly because the adorable, itty-bitty Yellow Cosmetics Bag looked more appealing to me lol I’ll also be listing all the notes below (if I can find them) for everything that came with the Yellow Pack. Lastly, since I spent well over $100 I also qualified for the “bonus” gift which was a Nest Grapefruit Reed Diffuser!

As I’ve mentioned numerous times on my blog, these larger 3-wick Candles were priced at an exorbitant KD 8each. However, they had a “x3 Candles for KD 17” deal on them. It didn’t seem like that great of a deal, but I was in the market for some more Candles and like I’d mentioned earlier (here), everything else seemed a bit… meh.

I would’ve loved to purchase a travel-size Shower Gel and travel-size Body Lotion from the In The Stars Collection, but they weren’t available at the time (possibly because the collection was new-new, or less possibly because the collection didn’t actually include those). So, rather than spring for the full sizes (I was already stocked up on, well… everything, since January, so I didn’t want to overwhelm myself with even more full sized products), I decided to wait for the travel-sizes to pop up in-store.

In March, Bath & Body Works released a new collection called In The Stars. It was a surprisingly delightful scent! They also came out with a bunch of newer Candles! Lastly, I noticed some more Sheet Masks (hard pass, fool me once and all) and Bath Bombs. For those confused by the signs around the store focusing on Moms, Arabs celebrate Mother’s Day slightly earlier than the rest of the world.

In The Stars

Radiant, Warm, Captivating

Notes: Radiant Amber, Sandalwood Musk, Sweet & Spicy Agarwood

Just by looking at the notes, you can sorta’ tell that In The Stars is going to be all sweet and musky and woodsy! Personally, I really, really like it!

Others can blame drugs or alcohol… In my case, I’m naturally high (on life) and clinically drunk (lack of sleep) so I can only blame myself for this mistake lol

I’d purchased MAC “Velvet Teddy” ShadeScent Eau de Parfum earlier (haulage here) and was constantly being complimented by everyone (guys, girls, randos) whenever I wore it! Other people’s opinions aside, I had fallen in love with the scent… hard! Since I couldn’t find it locally (even if it’s still in production abroad, they randomly just stop bringing stuff over), I had to start rationing what little I had left.

As luck would have it, I spotted it on Nordstrom so I figured I could keep repurchasing it in twos; one for myself (assuming I was going to run out of it pretty regularly) and one to gift to whomever had asked for it at the time (younger brother, favorite cousin, bestie, etc…). It’s touted as a dupe for Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille, but I love it because it’s different than anything I’ve ever owned up to this point. It just smells so good!

Nordstrom happened to have this promo where if you spent XYZ amount, you got a Skincare Sample Pack (some of them were one-time-use samples while others were deluxe samples), in addition to their usual Sample Pack (x5 pre-selected one-time-use samples, free with every order). Plus, if you spent XYZ amount on MAC stuff, you got a one-time use MAC Mascara (sample) and a MAC Lipstick (full size)!

More often than not, the Velvet Teddy Fragrance was usually out of stock, but once I noticed it was back in stock, even though I was on my way out (week-end), I hurriedly placed the order for what I thought was x2 Velvet Teddy Fragrances and moved a couple of random items from my wishlist (x2 Elizabeth and James Nirvana Dry Shampoo and a Voluspa Candle) to qualify for all the promos and such (I figured since I was going to be paying for shipping anyway, might as well pick up a handful of other stuff to make it worthwhile)… little did I know that they would ship the items separately lol

I was really happy with my previous haulage from Nordstrom (here) so when I noticed that they were having another really cool promo, I decided to place another order. Plus, it was mah birthday (not that I needed an excuse to shop, since we’ve already established that I’m clearly a shopaholic). Basically, the promo was if you spent $135 (around KD 40) on Fragrances (including Eau de Toilettes and Eau de Perfumes and even Scented Candles), you qualified for the Gift With Purchase, which happened to be a pack of Fragrance Samples (haulage here)! As you can see, the items arrived individually wrapped in packing paper, in a rather large (practically empty) cardboard box also stuffed with packing paper. It’s not pretty, but hey, it works (everything arrived safely and undamaged)!